Five rounds into the Serie A season, Rome has placed both of its clubs at the summit alongside Inter. It is an early tableau with an echo from 1972-73, the only previous campaign in which Roma and Lazio had both been level at the top after five matchdays.
That old precedent offers little certainty. Lazio went on to finish third, building towards the Scudetto they would win in 1974, while Roma ended the season in 11th place. For now, superstition can be read in two directions across the capital.
Quick facts
- Roma lead the table on goal difference, with 14 scored and three conceded.
- Inter are second after scoring 15 and allowing eight.
- Lazio sit third, with eight goals for and three against.
- Gian Piero Gasperini’s Roma drew with Inter, while Gennaro Gattuso’s Lazio won in Venice.
- Lazio have 13 points and are top after five matches for the first time since 2011.
Roma’s position is less surprising in terms of resources. Gasperini has a deeper and stronger squad, greater investment behind him and an Olympic Stadium that has regularly been filled by at least 65,000 supporters. His task after the international break will be to prevent an encouraging opening becoming a reason for complacency.
The Giallorossi have been first after five games on several occasions: 1953, 1968, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2008, 2014 and 2015. This is their first time in that position at this stage for 11 years.
Lazio’s start carries a different weight. Gattuso arrived amid unrest around the club, a supporters’ protest, sparse crowds and a transfer window that only found momentum late on. Yet the signings have fitted the coach’s needs, and he has assembled a close group largely insulated from the noise outside.
The Biancocelesti have impressed when able to impose their football, but their resilience has been just as important on less fluent afternoons. That character has helped turn an uncertain summer into the most striking opening among the capital’s two sides.
Lazio had previously led after five rounds in 1935, 1940, 1973, 1975, 2009 and 2011. The current 13-point start therefore ends a 15-year wait for such a position.
The calendar after the break
The two Roman clubs are travelling through the same title race from very different starting points. Their ownerships, squads and supporter climates do not resemble one another, and neither did the expectations placed upon them before the season began.
Yet both coaches have given their teams a place beside the reigning champions. The coming weeks will test whether that shared elevation can be sustained.
Roma face an intense sequence: an away trip to Como, Real Madrid, Genoa, Slovan Bratislava and then Napoli away from home. Gasperini will have to manage energy as well as expectation, with European commitments adding to the domestic schedule.
Lazio, by contrast, will meet Monza, Juventus away and Parma over the comparable stretch. They have no European competition and, after their shock Coppa Italia exit against Mantova, no cup football either.
That absence is unwanted in one sense, but it leaves Gattuso with full training weeks while rivals are playing every three days. In a compressed season, that may become a meaningful advantage rather than merely an empty space in the diary.
October will not provide final answers, but it should sharpen the outlines of this early Serie A story. Roma have the depth and the crowd behind them; Lazio have momentum, a united dressing room and time on the training ground. Five matches have delivered a signal, even if the verdict must wait.
